nature watching in southern Colorado
A New Southern Colorado Adventure & Delight!
Yesterday, we celebrated Valentine’s Day in one of the most mellow places I can imagine. We drove an hour and a half west of here and arrived at the Sand Dunes Pool for a long, peaceful soak in the hot springs there.
We started out in the long, lazy river pool at around 100 degrees. This gets deeper the further you go in, and at the end there is a small water fall. The surrounding are surprisingly tropical and the temperature inside is perfect! This is the only pool you can swim around in in the adult section.
When you tire of the long, cool pool you can choose between three other smaller pools from 103 to 110 degrees or take a sauna.
The atmosphere is tropical, with cool plants growing everywhere! We saw a few orchids, some very nice succulents, a large Jade tree, and even a few tomatoes on the vine. This place is wonderful, like a moist, warm oasis in the middle of the dry, cold San Luis Valley. No wonder it is so popular! Alcohol is served in this section, and their hamburgers are great.
Everything I have described so far is in the adult or age 21+ section of this property. There is also an large, outdoor pool for families with kids. The surrounding mountains are incredible, and they also have places to stay there if you are on a vacation or RV camping. We’re just glad we live close enough to drive over for the day!
I do wish to mention one comment from a fellow swimmer yesterday. She was around age 50 and apparently she had been observing Mike and I for a while, when she came up to us and said,
“I just have to say you two make such a cute couple! My husband and I have been married for over 30 years. I just hope we can be like you two as we grow older together.”
That pretty much made our day!
How did this happen? How did I end up here, feeling so fortunate?
It’s a long story, one I can now share with you in my new memoir!
Millennials and Me (at 60!)
“Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage” –Anais Nin
I have been struck by an apparent trait of millennials lately. On the news they keep saying that millennials often choose experiences over buying products. They would rather take a trip than buy a new set of clothes. Now that is something I can relate to…
I have always chosen an experience over buying something. Whether it be interesting friendships or trips to spectacular or exotic places, I was always up for an adventure. That’s why I traveled quite a bit in my 20s, 30s, and 40s. And now that I’m 60, I’m so glad I did!
I went on a number of week-long river trips in Utah and Colorado in my twenties while living in Salt Lake City. These were marvelous, relaxing and unique journeys into the rural American West.
And how can I forget that backpacking trip to Canyonlands in southern Utah at age 18, when a couple of my friends got lost, and the ranger took us on a helicopter ride over the area in search of them? How can my parents forget getting that call that I was lost, even though I hasn’t.
And then there was that crazy trip to Mayaguez, Puerto Rico to pick up a sailboat and sail it to the British Virgin Islands. Come to find out the boat was a piece of crap, and there was no way it was going to sail that far. So instead we spent a few days in Mayaguez living on the boat, sailed to San Juan, and then a friend and I flew over to Tortola for one of the best weeks of my life, enjoying pina coladas and sunsets on Cane Garden Bay!
I discovered Venice on a rather ill-fated trip in the mid-1980s. I first landed in Paris to visit a friend. We traveled to Florence together, where I became quite ill with hepatitis and never left the hotel room! But then it was on to Venice. I was alone for most of my stay there, it was January, I was still sick, and yet I LOVED VENICE! I will never forget my long walks around Venice in the thick London fog, or the man next door at my cheap pension, practicing his opera piece over and over again. It was as authentic as it gets!
I have also spent over a year of my life in various countries in east Asia. Bangkok, Taipei, Hong Kong and China are familiar to me, with a million tales to tell about that fascinating part of our world.
Travel today is just not as stress-free as 30 or 40 years ago. Yes, there was the occasional hijacking back then, but in general it was cheaper, a lot easier, and much safer.
Building in December 2015 in southern Colorado
Mike (who spent most of his 20s traveling the Pacific in the Navy) and I, don’t have any major urges to travel at present. A trip right now just sounds exhausting after our recent two year struggle to move south and build this amazing solar home in one beautiful part of the country. In fact, our new home still feels like a fantastic vacation home to us!
We’re both glad we took those spontaneous trips back when it was fun and adventurous, and we look forward to exploring rural regions of the American southwest in the future.
Don’t judge my story by the chapter you walked in on…
After the Snow, Lovely Sunshine!
It snowed all day yesterday. It was so peaceful and beautiful…
And then this morning I woke up to the prettiest winter morning I could ever imagine… granted it is 3 degrees outside, but it is truly glorious!
The mountains in the distance are, of course, stunning from our front windows, but what thrills me the most is the sparkles in the newly fallen snow…
so hard to capture, and yet exactly like someone threw small diamonds all over the ground.
And here is an early morning photo of the tidy little valley below us…
just as the sun comes up to make our new day the best ever!
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I am filled with gratitude that I can now live like this forever. Please go learn more about our move from Fort Collins to here in my new memoir!
Solar Heating & Weather Patterns Northeast of the Sangre de Cristo Mountain Range
Clouds over the Spanish Peaks in January 2016
After a few nice sunny days, we’re having a cloudy one today, with snow expected tomorrow morning. I am happy to report our first ‘winter’ electric bill was really not bad, less than we ever expected. This passive solar heating is definitely doing an excellent job of keeping us warm and happy!
It has been interesting to study and learn more about the weather patterns down here. The Sangre de Cristo mountains south and west of us, are the best predictor of snow storms coming this way. They almost always come from that way. When we see a storm up in those mountains, there’s an excellent chance we’ll also be snowing here soon.
I just released a new book about what we went through in the past two years, packing up our life in suburbia, moving to rural Colorado, and starting a whole new life.
Want to learn more about this move from busy, noisy Fort Collins to this place of silence and great weather watching? Go here!
And please follow us on TWITTER!
The Sweetness of Doing Nothing
“There’s nothing sweeter than falling in love with the moment we’re given, the only one we have.” — Marcia Smalley
I saw the movie “Eat, Pray, Love” for the first time the other night, and enjoyed it. Elizabeth Gilbert’s journey reminds me at times of my own, except I did most of my traveling in my twenties and thirties, before I settled down to a regular career in libraries. Sometimes I cannot even remember all the countries I have experienced! I count at least 10 just in Asia…
But one line struck home for me, an apparently common Italian phrase: “The sweetness of doing nothing.” In this part of the film a barber is explaining to Liz the difference between Americans and Italians. And the more I thought about that idea, the more I agreed.
In my travels in France and Italy, I was struck by how relaxed and happy most people were compared to us. I can see how Europeans might see us as too busy, too serious, always in a hurry, pressured and uptight. I remember hearing children singing together on their way home from school as they walked the narrow, cobblestone paths of Venice, an indelible glimpse into a completely different way of life.
The Spanish Peaks in the ghostly early morning light!
Adventures of the NEW??? Old Farts 